33·Legends

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Ghana

The thirty-three greatest. Build your eleven, then settle the duels.

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The 33 of Ghana

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90 Michael Essien 59 caps · SC Bastia, Olympique LyonnaisNine minutes into the semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge on 6 May 2009, a Barcelona clearance dropped to Essien 25 yards out and he volleyed it in off the underside of the bar. He won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2012, two Premier League titles and four FA Cups there, back-to-back Ligue 1 titles at Lyon, and took Ligue 1 Player of the Year in 2005 and BBC African Footballer of the Year in 2006. CDM2005–12

2 AP 89 Abedi Pele 73 caps · 33 goals · Olympique de Marseille, Lille OSCHis corner in Munich on 26 May 1993 found Basile Boli's head and beat Milan, making Marseille the first French club to win the European Cup. African Footballer of the Year went to him three years running from 1991 to 1993, and he also won two French championships, the Nations Cup at 17 in 1982, and player of the tournament in 1992, when suspension kept him out of the final Ghana lost. CAM1982–93

3 SK 89 Samuel Kuffour 59 caps · FC Bayern Munich, AS RomaKuffour spent the minutes after the 1999 Champions League final in Barcelona lying face down on the turf, beating the ground with his fists, and Bayern's supporters took him to heart for it. Two years later he played all 120 minutes of the final Bayern did win against Valencia, then scored the goal that beat Boca Juniors in Tokyo, and he collected six Bundesliga titles, four German cups and Olympic bronze with Ghana at 15. CB1990s

88 Asamoah Gyan 109 caps · 51 goals · Udinese Calcio, ModenaSuárez handled on the line in the last minute of extra time in Johannesburg on 2 July 2010, and Gyan's penalty struck the crossbar with a first World Cup semi-final for an African team behind it. Ghana's leading scorer on 51 goals in 109 caps, he also has six World Cup goals across 2006, 2010 and 2014, more than any other African, and was a Nations Cup runner-up in 2010 and 2015. ST2006–15

5 SA 87 Stephen Appiah 67 caps · 14 goals · Udinese Calcio, JuventusThe penalty against the United States in Nuremberg on 22 June 2006 came in first-half stoppage time, and Appiah put it away to make it 2-1 and carry Ghana into the last 16 at their first World Cup. Captain through qualifying and the finals, he was named in the team of the 2006 Nations Cup and won the Süper Lig with Fenerbahçe in 2007, the Supercoppa Italiana with Juventus, and the league and cup with Hearts of Oak. CM2006–07

6 TY 87 Tony Yeboah 59 caps · 29 goals · Eintracht Frankfurt, Leeds UnitedOne volley on a Monday night at Elland Road, 21 August 1995, settled Leeds against Liverpool when Yeboah met a dropping ball and put it in off the underside of the bar, and his goal at Wimbledon a month later took Goal of the Season. Twice the Bundesliga's top scorer with Eintracht Frankfurt, in 1993 and 1994, he was the first African to captain a Bundesliga club and finished second in the 1993 African Footballer of the Year vote. ST1993–95

7 AA 86 Andre Ayew Ghana were a goal down to Germany in Fortaleza on 21 June 2014 when Ayew climbed to head the equaliser in the 54th minute, and the game finished 2-2 against the eventual world champions. Ghana's Under-20 World Cup win in 2009 remains his one world title, and he added Nations Cup runner-up medals in 2010 and 2015 with the golden boot in 2015, BBC African Footballer of the Year in 2011, and Ghana's appearance record. CAM2009–15

8 IS 86 Ibrahim Sunday Asante Kotoko, SV Werder BremenIn January 1971 he led Asante Kotoko into the 20 May Stadium in Kinshasa and came away with a 2-1 win over TP Englebert that made them champions of Africa for the first time. African Footballer of the Year in 1971, he added seven Ghanaian league titles, reached the Africa Cup of Nations final in 1968 and 1970, and in 1975 became the first African to play in the Bundesliga. CAM1968–75

9 KA 86 Kwadwo Asamoah 74 caps · 4 goals · Udinese Calcio, JuventusOn 9 March 2014 he took the ball into the Fiorentina box, dragged it back away from a cluster of defenders and fired into the top corner for the only goal of the game. Six seasons at Juventus produced six straight Serie A titles, four Coppa Italia wins and three Supercoppa trophies, two runs to the Champions League final, and a runners-up finish with Ghana at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. CM2010–14

86 Sulley Muntari 84 caps · Udinese Calcio, PortsmouthTwo minutes into first-half stoppage time of the Soccer City quarter-final on 2 July 2010, he let fly from long range and beat Fernando Muslera to put Ghana in front of Uruguay. Six weeks earlier he had come on in Madrid as Inter beat Bayern to seal the treble, giving him the Champions League, two Serie A titles, the Coppa Italia and the Club World Cup, on top of the FA Cup he won with Portsmouth in 2008. CDM2008–10

86 Thomas Partey 56 caps · 16 goals · Atlético Madrid, RCD MallorcaA 25-yard strike in the twentieth minute of the north London derby on 1 October 2022 was his first goal from outside the box in 65 Arsenal attempts, and the club voted it their goal of the season. He won the Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup with Atlético in 2018, reached the 2016 Champions League final, and was Ghana's player of the year in 2017 and 2018, before Arsenal met his 50 million euro buyout clause in 2020. CM2016–22

12 KA 85 Karim Abdul Razak 62 caps · 25 goals · Asante Kotoko, New York CosmosHarry Thompson, on commentary at the 1978 Africa Cup of Nations, called him the Golden Boy after the goal that put Tunisia out in the semi-final, and he had already settled the group match against Zambia the same way. Ghana lifted the trophy on home soil for their third title, and he was named African Footballer of the Year later that year, the second Ghanaian after Ibrahim Sunday to take the award. CM1970s

13 OK 85 Osei Kofi 25 caps · 19 goals · Accra Hearts of Oak SC, Asante KotokoTunis, 1965: he scored in all three of Ghana's matches, finished joint top scorer and created the goal that beat the hosts in the final, a tournament so complete that the Ghana FA president took to calling the trophy the Osei Kofi Cup. Two Africa Cup of Nations titles came in 1963 and 1965, with the player of the tournament award, three Ghanaian league titles at Asante Kotoko and 19 goals in 25 caps for the Black Stars. ST1963–65

14 GA 84 George Alhassan FC 105 Libreville, Ulsan HDFour goals carried him through the 1982 Nations Cup, two of them against Algeria in the semi-final and one that put Ghana ahead of hosts Libya in Tripoli on 19 March, in a final the Black Stars won 7-6 on penalties. The golden boot and a place in the team of the tournament came with that second continental title, after 1978, and he had already won the Ghanaian league with Great Olympics in 1974. ST1978–1984

84 John Mensah 86 caps · AC Bellinzona, Genoa CFCRock of Gibraltar was the name that stuck, and it held in Rustenburg on 26 June 2010, when he captained Ghana past the United States in extra time and into the World Cup quarter-finals. He finished runner-up at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations and third in 2008, made the 2012 team of the tournament, won 86 caps over eleven years, and was voted Ghana's player of the year in 2006. CB2006–12

16 OA 84 Opoku Afriyie Asante KotokoFans knew him as Bayie, and in the 1978 Nations Cup final in Accra he scored both goals as Ghana beat Uganda 2-0 and kept the trophy for good. He won the Africa Cup of Nations twice, in 1978 and 1982, finished as the 1978 tournament's top scorer, and took Ghanaian league titles with Asante Kotoko in 1980 and 1981 alongside top-scorer awards in 1979 and 1981. ST1972–1982

84 Richard Kingson 93 caps · Galatasaray S.K., SakaryasporGhana knew him as Olele, and on 26 June 2010 in Rustenburg he was voted man of the match after keeping the United States out long enough for Asamoah Gyan to win it in extra time. The run ended against Uruguay in the quarter-final, only the third time an African side had gone that far, and he collected a Nations Cup runner-up medal in 2010, third place in 2008, the team of the tournament in both, and 93 caps. GK2008–10

83 John Paintsil 89 caps · Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel AvivPaintsil pulled an Israeli flag from his sock after Ghana beat the Czech Republic in Cologne on 17 June 2006, a thank you, he later explained, to the Tel Aviv clubs who had seen him off at the airport. He won the Israeli league in 2003 and the State Cup in 2006, third place at the 2008 Nations Cup, a World Cup quarter-final with Ghana in 2010, and a place in the 2009 CAF Team of the Year. RB2003–10

19 KO 83 Kwasi Owusu 52 caps · 36 goals · Bofoakwa TanoNiger let in five to him in Accra in August 1969 and four more in Niamey a month later, nine goals in one Cup of Nations qualifying tie that Ghana took 15-1 on aggregate. Runner-up at the 1970 finals in Sudan, where he scored three including two inside three minutes against Congo-Kinshasa, 36 goals in 52 caps for the Black Stars, and an Olympic tournament in Munich, all of it while playing for Bofoakwa Tano in Sunyani. ST1969–70

20 ON 83 Opoku Nti Asante Kotoko, ServetteKumasi called him Zico, and in 1983 he settled the African Cup of Champions Clubs final there himself, the goal that beat Al Ahly and made Asante Kotoko champions of the continent. A year earlier he had won the Nations Cup with Ghana, beating Libya on penalties in Tripoli in March 1982 and making the team of the tournament; he finished runner-up for African Footballer of the Year in 1983 and won 45 caps. SS1982–83

21 CA 82 Christian Atsu Rio Ave, SBV VitesseTwo goals against Guinea in the quarter-final on 1 February 2015 took Ghana into the semi-finals, and the curling one was voted goal of the tournament while Atsu himself was named the best player of that Africa Cup of Nations. He won the Primeira Liga with Porto in 2013 and the Championship with Newcastle in 2017, finished runner-up at the 2015 Nations Cup, and made the team of the tournament in both 2015 and 2017. LM2013–17

82 Jordan Ayew 113 caps · 31 goals · Olympique de Marseille, Aston VillaHis solo goal against Wolverhampton in January 2018 was voted Swansea's best of the season, and Crystal Palace made him their player of the year two seasons later. He reached the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations final with Ghana, won Ligue 1 with Marseille, and now captains the Black Stars as their record cap holder with 124 appearances and 34 goals across three World Cups. SS2010–2026

23 WM 82 Wilberforce Mfum 26 caps · 20 goals · Baltimore Bays, Philadelphia UkrainiansThe terraces called him Bulldozer after his shot against Tunisia in Accra on 24 November 1963 tore clean through the net, the referee giving the goal only once the officials had inspected the damage. That was Ghana's first goal at a Cup of Nations and they won the tournament, with a runners-up medal in 1968 as its second-highest scorer, 20 goals in 26 caps, league titles at Asante Kotoko, and a late spell at the New York Cosmos. SS1963–68

24 HA 81 Harrison Afful Feyenoord Academy Ghana, Asante KotokoOn 12 November 2011 in Radès he cut inside from the right and curled a left-footed shot past Yassine Bono, the only goal across both legs of the CAF Champions League final. That title sits above an MLS Cup with Columbus in 2020, four Tunisian championships with Espérance, the Ghanaian league with Kotoko, two Africa Cup of Nations finals lost with the Black Stars, and 84 caps. RB2011–20

25 JM 81 Jonathan Mensah Free State Stars, Granada CFCairo, 16 October 2009: Ghana played from the 37th minute with ten men in the Under-20 World Cup final, and Mensah's own penalty in the shootout was saved before Brazil missed three of theirs. That title made Ghana the first African winner of the tournament; he added a 2010 Africa Cup of Nations runners-up medal, a World Cup quarter-final that summer, and the 2020 MLS Cup as Columbus Crew captain. CB2009–20

80 Anthony Annan 65 caps · Rosenborg BK, Stabæk FotballIn 2010 he was voted the best player in the Norwegian league at Rosenborg, then played all five of Ghana's World Cup matches that summer in front of the back four, until Uruguay won the shootout in Johannesburg. Africa Cup of Nations runner-up in 2010 and third in 2008, the German Cup and Supercup with Schalke, back-to-back Norwegian titles with Rosenborg, three Finnish championships with HJK, and 65 caps for Ghana. CDM2008–10

27 CT 80 Charles Taylor 16 caps · 2 goals · Accra Hearts of Oak SC, Asante KotokoTerror was the name he answered to, and Zamalek learned why on 11 February 2001 in Kumasi, when he seized on a mistake by goalkeeper Abdelwahed El Sayed in the twelfth minute and Hearts of Oak took the CAF Super Cup 2-0. He won the African title with Hearts in 2000, five Ghanaian championships there, a sixth with Asante Kotoko in 2003, a share of the 2002 golden boot, and 16 caps. RM2000–03

80 Hans Sarpei 36 caps · SC Fortuna Köln, VfL WolfsburgHe turned 34 two days after Ghana beat the United States in Rustenburg, then went out again for the Uruguay quarter-final, having played every match at left back in South Africa. A DFB-Pokal followed in 2011, when he started the final in Berlin for Schalke; with Ghana he was runner-up at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations and third in 2008, across 36 caps and two World Cups. LB2008–11

29 IA 80 Isaac Acquaye Ghana beat Uganda 2-0 at the Accra Sports Stadium on 18 March 1978 with Acquaye in the squad at number 14, the day the Black Stars took the African title for a third time and kept the trophy for good. Africa Cup of Nations winner in 1978, and one of the few in that champion squad from outside the big names, since he played for Dumas Boys of GTP rather than Hearts, Kotoko or Olympics. CB1970s

30 JC 80 Joseph Carr Uganda came to the Accra Sports Stadium on 16 March 1978 and did not beat him once, and Opoku Afriyie's two goals at the other end handed Ghana a third African crown in front of its own crowd. He won the Africa Cup of Nations twice, in 1978 and again in 1982, was named in four squads for the tournament between 1978 and 1984, and later coached goalkeepers at Real Sociedad. GK1978–84

31 RM 80 Robert Mensah Ebusua Dwarfs, Asante KotokoThe cap never left his head, so Ghana called him Yashin after the Russian who wore one too, and opposing forwards took to snatching it off him in the belief that it carried juju. He kept goal as Asante Kotoko won the 1970 African Cup of Champions Clubs against TP Englebert, finished runner-up at the 1968 Africa Cup of Nations and for the 1971 African Footballer of the Year, and has a Cape Coast stadium named after him. GK1968–71

32 JO 78 Joe Odoi The 1984 season brought him Ghana's footballer of the year award, won from the right side of an Accra Hearts of Oak team that took the national championship and then defended it a year later. Ghana Player of the Year in 1984, league titles with Hearts in 1984 and 1985, and an early place in the Black Meteors squad formed in 1983, a side he could serve at either full-back position. CB1983–85

33 SI 78 Shilla Illiasu 13 caps · King Faisal Babes, Asante KotokoStill on Asante Kotoko's books and one of only four home-based players in the squad, he started at centre-back in Cologne on 17 June 2006 as Ghana beat the Czech Republic 2-0 for the country's first World Cup victory. He held the same place for the 2-1 win over the United States that carried Ghana into the round of 16, finishing with 13 caps and, later, a move to Russia with FC Saturn. CB2000s

About this XI

Ghana's pool is led by Michael Essien, Abedi Pele and Samuel Kuffour. The 33 covers 3 goalkeepers, 9 defenders, 12 midfielders and 9 forwards, spanning the 1970s to the 2000s. Michael Essien leads the pool at 90 overall. Pick a formation, drag your eleven onto the pitch, then settle the duels below. Your votes reorder the people's ranking of these 33 in real time.

Left out, and why

A 33 is a set of decisions, and these are the players who lost their place in the last revision of Ghana's list. Every one of them has a case.

Laryea KingstonRated 82 in the almanac. The place went to George Alhassan.
Yaw YeboahRated 79 in the almanac. The place went to Opoku Afriyie.
Baba RahmanRated 79 in the almanac. The place went to Jordan Ayew.

Disagree? That is the point. Settle it in the duels above.

Who is the greatest Ghana footballer of all time?

In the 33 Legends editorial ranking, Michael Essien leads Ghana with an overall rating of 90. The editorial top five: Michael Essien, Abedi Pele, Samuel Kuffour, Asamoah Gyan, Stephen Appiah. The people's ranking on this page moves with every duel vote and can disagree.

How were these 33 Ghana players chosen?

The pool covers every position across Ghana's football history. Ratings weigh peak level, longevity, honours and historical standing, then the full methodology page explains the tiers. Fan votes in the duels build a second, independent ranking.

Which Ghana players reach the Immortal tier or higher?

None yet. Michael Essien leads the Ghana pool at 90, in the Legend tier.

Can I build and share my own Ghana all-time XI?

Yes. Pick one of eight formations, drag any of the 33 onto the pitch, and export your lineup as a PNG. There is no account and no sign-up.